Combat· American Revolutionary War
Loss of Trumbull to HMS Iris and HMS General Monk
The Continental frigate Trumbull, Captain James Nicholson, was captured by the British ships Iris and General Monk off the Delaware Capes on August 9, 1781.
She left the Delaware Capes on August 8 with a convoy of 28 merchantmen. That night, in squally weather, Trumbull lost her foretopmast and maintopmast and left the convoy. When one of the ships sighted came alongside, Nicholson reported, three quarters of his crew ran below. With the remainder he fought the Iris for one hour and thirty-five minutes, then struck when the other ship came up and fired into him. He reported a crew of 180 and never more than 40 on deck. Captain of Marines Gilbert Saltonstall wrote that they were carried into New York, and he was paroled from the prison ship. The Iris towed Trumbull into New York, where she was left to rot. Before the end of 1781 the Marines on board the frigates Alliance and Deane made up the entire strength of the Continental Marine establishment.
Record no. 152